


For all you know tomorrow

by bamboo_astronaut (A_Lesbian_With_Pink_Hair)



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Cinderella AU, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 17:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4531527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Lesbian_With_Pink_Hair/pseuds/bamboo_astronaut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The clock tower struck midnight. </p>
<p>“Adam,” Ronan said, voice rough with emotion and want. Adam looked at him, torn, but he knew he had to get Blue and leave. His father would break him apart if he was caught. </p>
<p>“I can’t,” Adam whispered sadly, and then turned and ran back into the ballroom, leaving Ronan Lynch alone in the night.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>A Cinderella AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For all you know tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is dedicated to my friend Brittany. She's the one who recommended these books to me in the first place.
> 
> I know some of the characters will be a little off but it's a fairy tale, so you know. Grain of salt.

_A dream is a wish your heart makes_  
_When you're feeling small_  
_Alone in the night you whisper_

_Thinking no one can hear you at all_  
_You wake with the morning sunlight_  
_To find fortune that is smiling on you_

_Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow_  
_For all you know, tomorrow_  
_The dream that you wish will come true_

\--

Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Henrietta, there lived a young man named Adam Parrish. That is how these sorts of stories always start. Adam lived in a small house with his mother and father. His father was the overseer of a lumber yard on the edges of the enchanted forest, Cabeswater, and his mother washed clothes for the noble families that lived nearer to the castle.

Adam himself worked in the royal kitchens alongside his best friend, Blue Sargent, a non-psychic girl from a family of psychics who had been cursed by a witch as a baby. The curse: to kill her true love with their first kiss.

Adam knew that Blue knew who her true love was supposed to be. She’d known since she was seventeen years old, but she wouldn’t tell him.

When they were much younger, not yet adolescents, Adam had hoped it would be him. He’d be okay never kissing Blue if she were his true love. But it wasn’t him, and the childhood crush evolved into a friendship that meant more to Adam as a young adult than anything.

Adam liked working, and he liked spending time with Blue and her bizarre family. He liked being busy. It distracted him from what waited for him at the end of every day.

Adam’s father was not a nice man. And he had no qualms about beating Adam senseless. It was not at all unusual for Adam to pick Blue up at her house in the early morning covered in fresh bruises and favoring a particular limb.

“I don’t understand why you can’t just leave. Come live with us, we could make room,” Blue would insist, pressing ice wrapped in cloth against his ribs or wrapping a brace for his knee or rubbing salve on his eye or—injuries, all the time, sometimes hidden under his clothes, sometimes he got unlucky.

“I won’t put more of a burden on your family,” Adam answered, wincing. “You know I can’t. I won’t owe anyone anything like that. I’m saving up my money and I’m going to study at the university.”

The university he referred to was Aglionby University, the only university in the kingdom that offered magical and magical theory studies. As such, it was attended only by noblemen’s children, tuition being too high for anyone less important.

Adam had a spark of magic in him, the kind of magic that tied him to the trees of Cabeswater. He felt it in his veins, when wind whispered through the trees of the mystical forest, the leaves brushed against each other and spoke to him, tried to ask him for favors, offering rewards in return. But his father’s job was to cut down trees, magic or no, and Adam would never survive the results of listening to the woods instead of his parents. So the magic went ignored, but not forgotten.

No, not forgotten. One day he too would study his gift, would make something of himself, and his father would never lay a hand on him ever again.

\--

One morning in the kitchens, Ronan Lynch stormed in, wearing a light tunic rather than his guardsman uniform, bleeding all down both arms. Adam jumped up from peeling potatoes when the angry young man stormed in and ran over to help him.

It was not the first time Ronan had shown up with a mysterious injury of some sort, furious and refusing to divulge anything but orders and threats. Adam was even on a last-name basis with the young guard captain, Prince Richard Gansey III’s closest friend and also technically his bodyguard.

The first time it happened, Adam had been terrified out of his mind. The youngest and most recently appointed guard captain burst into the kitchens, shards of multicolored glass embedded in the crease of his left arm, blood dripping down his fingers and to the floor.

Adam had been the one to patch him up, pulling strips of cloth tight against soap-scrubbed wounds as Ronan grunted with discomfort.

"Why doesn't he see a healer?" Blue had whispered to Adam as he cleaned his own hands off.

"Maybe he did something bad, something he doesn't want the king's castle staff to see?" he suggested quietly.

"Probably. I mean, just look at him..."

He had looked at Ronan then, sitting in the kitchen by the fire an examining the fresh wrapping around his wounds. Suddenly he had looked up, caught Adam's gaze with his own razor sharp one.

“You. What’s your name?” the young nobleman had said roughly, impossibly blue eyes looking at Adam’s face, streaked with cinders from stoking the oven fires.

“Adam.”

“Adam what?”

“Parrish.”

Adam had not asked for Ronan’s name. Everyone knew the prince’s closest companion nearly as well as they knew the prince himself.

Ronan had not said thank you the first time, and since then he never had once. This one particular morning, with blood trickling down both arms, Ronan cupped something tiny and fragile in one of his hands, and as he plopped down on a barrel, Blue gave Adam an “it’s your turn to deal with this” look and went to distract Nino, the head cook. Adam fetched the soap and cloth strips and a bucket of clean water they’d gotten used to keeping in the kitchens.

“What did you do this time?” Adam asked, not looking Ronan in the eyes.

“None of your business, Parrish,” the guardsman answered, voice sharp like a knife. Everything about Ronan was sharp, bladed, dangerous. Ronan watched Adam wrap his left arm and shifted whatever he was holding to the other hand when he was done.

“What is that?”

Without answering, Ronan relaxed his fingers and opened his hand; it was a baby bird, a raven. Adam had never heard of Ronan to treat a single thing in the world with care, but the way he cradled that bird...

Adam knew the young guardsman was interested in him. And maybe most people would have missed it, but Adam Parrish was not most people. He noticed how Ronan watched him whenever he came to the kitchens, even on days when Blue was the one cleaning him up. He ignored it, wrote it off as a rich man’s ill-placed fascination. After all, Ronan was, one, a nobleman, two, the prince’s right hand, and three, an incredibly dangerous person. Violence oozed out of his pores, emanated around him like an aura. He was short-tempered and often cruel.

The bird was a surprise.

When Ronan was patched, he got up and left without so much as a thank you, as he always did.

\--

“Your parents want you to do what now?”

Ronan stood in Prince Gansey’s chambers with his arms crossed looking wholeheartedly unimpressed. Gansey (who hated to be referred to by his title or his first name) was pacing, irritated.

“They want to have a ball. They want me to get married. I can’t get married now! We’re so close to finding him!” the prince exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t understand. Helen is already engaged, and _she’s_ the crown princess.”

“Well, you are their only son,” Ronan pointed out unhelpfully. “Meddlers always think they're helping. Maybe they’ll bring in some decent drink for the party, at least.”

Gansey threw his second a dirty look before straightening, pulling the creases out of his fine tunic and putting on his Royal Prince persona like it was a dressing gown he could slip over his head.

“Or maybe they’ll be willing to make a deal.”

“Deal?” Gansey asked.

“You know. You go to the ball. Dance with some girls. Look like you’re trying, then when nothing happens, we keep searching for Glendower,” Ronan said. _He was being surprisingly helpful_ , Gansey thought. It was a strange day, starting with that baby bird sleeping in the breast pocket of the guardsman’s shirt.

Truthfully Ronan had only gotten the job because Gansey had met him at a party when they were children, and had been the first person not to scoff at Gansey’s insistence that he’d been saved from death by a sleeping king and set on a path to locate him. Ronan, rather, had been delighted in meeting another boy in his accepted social circle that would rather stomp around in the woods and learn dead languages than exist solely for his family’s political standing. So they’d made a plan that night for Ronan to join the noble guard and become the young prince’s escort. It did require more effort and less aggression than Ronan typically preferred, but like most of Gansey’s plans, it worked out exactly as they had wanted.

And so their new plan was sure to work out just as easily.

\--

The entire city was abuzz with gossip on the announcement of a ball being thrown in honor of their young prince’s recent return from his studying abroad. Blue’s house, a small haphazard cottage filled with more psychic women than could reasonably fit inside of it, was not especially different because, as Adam had just learned, Blue was destined to go to the ball and fall in love with the prince. And then kill him with a kiss.

“It’s fine. I don’t even really want to go,” Blue lied convincingly, straightening her tattered skirts absently as she sat on the chair in the small living room. “I’ve met him a few times when he came to the kitchens for snacks. What’s so great about him, really...? Let someone else be his princess.”

Maura, Blue’s mother, teased, “You’re so sensible! I don’t know where you get that from. If you don’t want to go, then don’t go. It’s probably for the best anyway.”  
But Blue did want to go. She wasn’t a rich girl, she was just a servant in the castle, but it would be fun for one night to pretend that she wasn’t so sensible. And she felt the thrum of destiny in her veins, beating harsh in her heart like blood on fire.

_If I go to the ball, I’ll fall in love with Prince Gansey_ , she thought. _And if I kiss him, he’ll die._

Surely it would do no harm just to go. She’d wear a mask, she’d eat fancy food and dance in the grand ballroom and be foolish and young, and when the night was over, she’d go back to being sooty in the kitchens with Adam.

\--  
Adam wanted to go to the ball too. For an entirely different reason than Blue.

There would be quite a number of special guests at the ball, and among them, Professor Roger Malory, founder of Aglionby University. Adam hoped that he’d have an opportunity to talk to the man in person, to ask him about a scholarship of some sort, or a deal of some kind that would allow him to attend the school he’d always dreamed of attending to study the magic he’d always wanted to understand.

His father was not so supportive of this idea.

“You want to do _what_?” Robert Parrish boomed, standing menacingly in front of Adam.

“I—I wanted to go to the prince’s ball. To talk to Sir Malory about his school.”

“What for? You think you’re going to impress him?” his father laughed sardonically. “You think you’re going to talk your way around the fact that all those people think they’re so much better than us?”

Adam hung his head. Maybe it was stupid.

“March your ass off to work, boy. I don’t want to hear another word about that school.”

“I just—”

His father smacked him across the face, not hard enough to knock him over, but enough that there would be a bruise on his cheekbone all day. Already it was starting to show. His father angled his head towards the front door, encouraging his son to leave for his kitchen job.

Adam did as he was told.

\--

Blue was waiting outside of her house when Adam walked up looking dejected.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “Oh. Your face, Adam.”

He let out a deep sigh. “Don’t worry about it. I just thought it might be fun to go to the ball, talk to some of the university’s owners, maybe pretend for five minutes that I’m not...”

  
Adam let his sentence trail off as they walked along the dirt road to the palace.

“I want to go. I think you should come with me,” Blue told him firmly. “Your father will be away at the logging camp then, right? He won’t be back until the morning after. As long as we leave by midnight you’ll be back before him.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said.

\--

They got to the kitchens and began their tasks for the day—peeling potatoes, stoking the oven fires, starting soup stocks, and keeping the area as clean as possible. The welt on Adam’s cheek had bloomed into reds and purples, and it ached. He swept the floor and tried his best to ignore it.

“What happened to your face?”

Adam nearly snapped the broom handle in half; Ronan had snuck in, silent as a snake. Which Adam found to be an appropriate metaphor for the young guardsman, truly.

Ronan was uninjured that day, leaning against the doorway leading to the main dining hall, the odd baby bird from the other day tucked into a breast pocket.

“Do you need something?” Adam asked, barely remembering to add a respectful “Sir?”

“Meat bits. For the bird,” the other boy replied, rubbing a hand over the fuzz of his shaved head.

Adam nodded, walked back to the cold room where they kept the meat, and scraped some scraps from the cutting board onto a plate and then brought it back to Ronan, who accepted the plate and immediately sat down to feed the tiny raven.

The guardsman glanced up. “Hey. Your face, Parrish. What happened to your face?”

Adam looked away. “I fell.”

“Bullshit.”

He looked back at Ronan sharply. “Excuse me?”

“You didn’t fucking fall,” Ronan answered, voice calm. “Looks like someone hit you.”

“If you’re so smart why did you even ask me?”

Adam then realized belatedly that he had just spoken back to someone well above his own position, someone who could get him tossed in prison for that insubordination, and clapped his hands over his own mouth.

“Captain Lynch, I’m so—“

He was interrupted by Ronan laughing, low and dangerous as he stood up, handing the bloody plate back to the kitchen boy.

“Well, shit, you’ve got a backbone in you after all. That’s good. Maybe you’ll remember that next time whoever it is tries to hit you.”

Ronan left and Adam took the plate back to wash it. Blue was already scrubbing dishes by the large basin.

“I’m going to the ball with you,” Adam said firmly, not looking her in the eyes. She smiled.

“I’ll get your mask ready.”

\--

“I did not think this through. I don’t actually have anything to wear,” Blue stated. “Or any way to get there.”

“Gray can take you,” Calla answered, waving her hand in the air as if to brush away Blue’s concern.

Sir Gray was Maura’s paramour. Once, Adam and Blue had seen him arrive in his own carriage and asked if he was a chauffeur and he had smiled kindly and said no, he was not. Something about his smile had told them not to ask what it was he did for a living again.

“And the dress?” the young kitchen worker demanded.

Maura stood silently, took Blue by the hand, and led her up to the attic. Standing in the dim light was a dress form, and on the dress form was the most beautiful gown Blue had ever seen. The dress was made of countless layers of silvery-blue chiffon. The bodice was hand-beaded with silvers and blues and golds, the short sleeves sheer and sparkling. It was stunning.

“That was my mother’s wedding gown,” Maura told her daughter. “I’ve been saving it for your wedding, but... well, destiny and all that. It’s yours. And I have a mask to go with it.”

“Oh, mom...” Blue ran over to the dress, touching it reverently. “It’s beautiful. It’s... It’s amazing.”

She turned and raced into her mother’s arms and held on tight.

“I love you, Blue,” her mother said. “I know it’s not easy, knowing your destiny like you do. I hope you have fun tonight. And be careful. Don’t kiss anyone.”

“I won’t. I’ll stay with Adam,” Blue said.

“He’ll be here soon. Gray went to go get him, so you’d better start getting ready...”

Maura turned away and then said “Oh!”

“Oh?”

“Shoes. I’ve got just the thing.”

Maura opened one of the dusty chests and pulled out a pair of delicate glass heels that sparkled in the light and grinned at Blue.

“You can’t dance without the right shoes.”

\--

Gansey and Ronan stood politely by the thrones at the head of the room, Gansey bowing at all the nice young women who came hoping to dance with the prince. Ronan kept snickering under his breath and Gansey kept shooting him dirty looks whenever he had a spare moment.

Ronan glanced around the room, bored in his formal guard uniform and the mask that did nothing to hide who he was. His was made with shiny black raven feathers and edged in silver, and it looked as dangerous as Ronan himself.

Some commotion by the large staircase caught both of their attentions and he looked up to see a man and a young lady. The young lady was dressed in a gown like none Gansey had ever seen before; he could tell it had been woven with magic. She looked otherworldly and Gansey felt himself drawn to her like a magnet to its twin.

“Hey, Gansey—“ Ronan started to say, reaching out a hand belatedly as Gansey marched out of reach and right up to the bottom of the staircase to meet the girl in the magic dress.

She smiled politely at him and curtsied.

“Your Majesty,” the girl said, mouth curved up pleasantly.

“Oh,” the prince answered, for once at a loss for words. “No, please. Call me Gansey.”

“Just Gansey?” she asked, amused.

“That’s... all there is,” he said. “Where ever did you find a dress made with magic like this one? I’ve never seen another like it.”

“I can’t reveal all my secrets in our first conversation,” the mystery woman replied, still smiling.

“Then... would you like to dance?”

She turned back towards her male companion. Gansey had forgotten about him; he realized his great social blunder too late, but the other man smiled kindly and gestured for her to go on.

“I will be fine on my own,” he said to her. “Have fun.”

“That’s... my brother,” she explained as she took the prince’s outstretched hand. He led her in a dance and all the nobles of the kingdom held their breath as their only prince moved to the music with the mysterious young woman.

\--

Ronan, satisfied that Gansey was occupied for the evening, moved off to find some food, or something else to occupy his time. There were plenty of young ladies that would be happy for his attention (or so they thought, at least, until they actually met him) but they were hardly the type to catch his eye.

The type to catch his eye more recently was that boy from the kitchens, with his elegantly angled face and his soft dusty-colored hair and a little bit of a bite at the end of his required politeness. The boy who came to work covered in hurts that someone was continually inflicting on him, but didn’t seem to let that stop him in his determination for whatever it was that he wanted.

Ronan wanted him. Adam Parrish. But he would never entertain the idea that the feeling was mutual, so he let himself want quietly, imagine that someone like Adam Parrish would come to a ball like this one.

At that moment someone walked directly into Ronan’s back.

He turned around to see the boy that had accompanied Gansey’s mystery maiden, and when he looked up at Ronan to apologize, Ronan noticed the darkened purple bruise that he’d seen on Adam’s face just days before. And even styled back, he’d recognize that dusty hair anywhere.

Adam, it seemed, was determined to act as though he didn’t know who Ronan was, and Ronan decided he’d found what he wanted to occupy himself with for the evening: playing chicken with Adam Parrish.

“I am terribly sorry,” Parrish exclaimed, faking away his gentle country accent. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“No harm done,” Ronan said, grinning a very sharp smile, voice dripping with honey. “It seems Prince Gansey is quite taken by your... sister, right?”

“Oh,” he said, surprised that he was being drawn into a conversation. “Yes. My sister. She’s, uh. I’m glad she’s enjoying herself. She doesn’t always get to.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Always get to enjoy yourself?”

“Oh. Um. No. I suppose I don’t either really.”

Ronan held out a hand. “In that case, would you do me the honor of dancing with me? You should get a chance to have some fun too.”

“What?” Adam looked alarmed, and caught. “Um, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” the guardsman asked. “I’m afraid I’m no prince but I’m not a terrible dancer. Or perhaps you’d rather dance with a pretty young lady.”

The kitchen boy looked away. “It—it’s really not that. I don’t... really know how to dance!. I’m afraid I’d step on your toes. I hope you have a pleasant evening.”

Ronan was impressed by Adam’s calmness. He wasn’t getting flustered like Ronan had hoped.

“Are you looking for something in particular? I can help you. With Prince Gansey occupied with your sister, I’m free to do as I like.”

Adam laughed nervously. “Surely you’ve got things you’d rather do than cling to me all night.”

“Not at all,” Ronan said innocently. “Not to mention, if your sister and the prince get married, you and I will be spending plenty of time together.”

“Oh, I don’t think she’s going to marry him,” he answered almost automatically, and then he froze like he’d said something wrong. Ronan found that interesting.

“You never know. I don’t think it’s that unusual nowadays, people courting outside of their peers.”

“It’s—yes, of course. You’re right.” This meant he was not. That wasn’t it. Adam knew something else about his “sister” that he wasn’t telling.

“Do you need to find something?” Ronan asked again.

“Uh. Just the buffet table,” Adam lied. So Ronan led him to the buffet table cheerfully, speaking with all the manners and poise he’d ever been taught. And even though it had obviously not been his goal, once he saw the decadent display of food, Adam could not resist. Ronan always had thought the kitchen boy was on the skinny side; he probably didn’t get enough to eat at home.

“I’m Ronan Lynch,” he said as Adam stuffed his face. “You probably guessed. And you are?”

“Doesn't asking that defeat the purpose of the masks? This can't be your first masquerade, Captain Lynch.”

Adam smirked at him a little and turned to walk out into the open gardens, where they could still hear the orchestra playing distantly. If he wanted to play, Ronan had the whole night to do it.

\--

The gardens were beautiful, Adam thought, perfectly cultivated and maintained, with hedges cut into elaborate shapes and every kind of flower blooming along stone-paved pathways that intersected at magnificently carved stone fountains.

Adam had already figured out that Ronan not only knew who he was, but was messing with him. The only way he was going to get what he needed was through honesty.

But Adam was afraid. It had been a surprisingly enjoyable night with Ronan, and in the back of his mind he thought _Ronan wants you. You know he does. You’ve seen him watching you in the kitchens_. Adam had always thought it was just another rich person looking to take advantage of his lessers, or some kind of romanticization of poverty from harsh reality to a folklore-esque fascination, but maybe he had been wrong. Or maybe he was beginning to hope he was wrong.

He’d figured out in his younger teenaged years that he liked girls and boys the same way. It didn’t really matter who he ended up with. But he was a poor boy from a small, unimportant little hovel of a home. And Ronan Lynch was a guard captain, a nobleman, and Prince Gansey’s right hand man. It wasn’t the same for Ronan.

Adam shook his head. He’d gotten distracted from his goal, and pining away for an important boy that likely just wanted a quick fuck was not going to get Adam to Aglionby.

“I need to be honest with you,” he said, fidgeting uncomfortably and dropping his fake accent. Ronan strolled beside him looking content and curious. “I was looking for Sir Roger Malory. I wanted to... ask him about Aglionby.”

“The university?”

“I want to go there. More than anything. But I...”

“It costs a fucking fortune to attend,” Ronan supplied helpfully, finally breaking his polite demeanor.

“Exactly.”

Ronan stopped by a fountain and turned to Adam. He took his raven feather mask off and looked at him. Adam felt like the other boy’s blue eyes were looking right into the core of him, like every secret Adam had ever kept was revealed for him.

“I could pay for you to go.”

Adam felt his heart leap into his throat. He squashed it back down. It wouldn’t be right. He refused to be owned by anyone, indebted to anyone in a way he couldn’t pay back. Adam Parrish belonged to himself and no one else.

“You don’t even know who I am,” Adam lied.

“I have the money. It wouldn’t even make a dent in what I have.”

Adam shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t accept something like that. It would mean I owe you. It would mean I didn’t earn it.”

Ronan got angry. “You wouldn’t owe me shit. I can—“

The kitchen boy slipped his mask off over his head and Ronan stopped cold. The game was over, and neither was sure who had won.

“I don’t belong to anyone,” Adam said. “I won’t start now. I won’t be a nobleman’s pet project, or kept boy, or, or whatever it is you want me to be. I’m not a fool. I’ve seen you watching me when you come to the kitchens with injuries and excuses.”

“That’s not—I wouldn’t do that to you,” the guardsman insisted. Adam wanted to believe him.

“Thank you for your gracious offer, Captain Lynch,” Adam answered stiffly. “But whatever your reasons are, I can’t accept.”

“Fine.” Ronan frowned and then changed the subject. “Why couldn’t she marry him? If she wanted to?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Why the hell not?”

“It isn’t my secret to tell,” Adam replied simply. Ronan accepted that and sat down on the edge of the fountain. Adam sat beside him, and they listened to the orchestra in silence for a while.

“Sir Malory isn’t here,” Ronan finally said. “He’s researching a ley line in the neighboring kingdom. Sorry, Parrish.”

Adam let out a short, harsh laugh. “Then it was a waste.”

Ronan dipped his head down. “Not for me.”

Adam turned to look at him, really _look_ , and saw Ronan’s flushed cheeks and slightly shaking hands.

“It’s not. I mean. Sorry. If you want me to stop. If I’m bothering you. If it freaks you out. You wouldn’t be the first boy that—”

“It’s not like that. I’m not... adverse to... well, it’s just. I thought that maybe it was another case of a wealthy man romanticizing poverty. Or thinking a peasant is the most discreet and easy person to sleep with. It happens a lot. Especially to girls. And I also thought you probably just wanted... well. I didn’t think you were interested in... in all of it. In all of... me."

Ronan whipped his head up to look at Adam, angry again.

“What the hell kind of person do you think I am? That I’d just pick some random boy from the kitchens for a fast roll in the hay? That I’d use what I have to buy myself a quick fuck?”

Adam shook his head. “No. I don’t. That’s just what I’d hoped you were.”

“Why?”

“It’s easier that way. If it’s more than that, it gets complicated. Especially when important people are involved.”

“I don’t give a shit what other people think. I do whatever I want.”

“Actions have consequences,” Adam said, absently rubbing his fingers over the welt on his cheek.

“And was _that_ the consequence for _your_ actions? Who does this to you, Parrish? I’ve seen you come to work limping and bleeding and black and blue. Who hurts you?” Ronan asked insistently.

“Who hurts _you_?” Adam countered. “I’ve been patching you up since I started working in the kitchens and you never say a damn word about it.”

“That’s different.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“The things that hurt me are... they’re godddamn monsters, Parrish. It’s not the same.”

Adam smiled ruefully at Ronan. “You think the man who hits me isn’t a monster too?”

He shook his head, put his mask on, and started walking back towards the ballroom. Ronan followed him and silently grabbed up one of his hands, spinning Adam around to face him, and put his other hand on Adam’s hip.

“What are you—“

“Dance with me.”

“Ronan—“

“Please.” Ronan never said please. “I get it. If you don’t want to be with me, for whatever reasons you have. You barely know me, and it’s—I get it. But I just. One dance. I want to... I want to pretend it could be. Please.”

“...I... okay.”

Hesitantly, Adam tightened his grip on Ronan’s hand and put his other on Ronan’s shoulder. Quietly they moved to the music playing inside, alone so far out in the garden, bodies close together. Time seemed to slow down; the magic spark inside of Adam was humming approvingly at Ronan’s proximity; there was something magic in the other boy too.

“You’ve got magic,” Adam breathed, quiet.

“Yeah," Ronan answered softly. "You do too.”

Neither of them said it. Their magics were compatible; they were both tied to Cabeswater, to the ley line beneath it, and it made the magic in Adam’s bones breathe a great sigh of relief, like something in him had been waiting for him and Ronan to be this close. But it was just one night. It was just pretend. He and Blue would have to go back to the kitchens. Blue could never kiss her prince or live happily ever after. And Adam would be stuck in his house with his abusive father forever.

The great clock at the top of the clock tower struck midnight.

Like he’d been electrified, Adam yanked himself away from Ronan.

“I can’t—I have to go—“

Ronan wrapped a hand around the back of Adam’s head and drew him into a kiss. It spread warmth through Adam’s body from the tips of his fingers down to his toes. It broke his heart.

“ _Adam_ ,” Ronan said, voice rough with emotion and want.

Adam looked at him, torn, but he knew he had to get Blue and leave. His father would break him apart if he was caught.

“I can’t,” Adam whispered sadly, and then turned and ran back into the ballroom, leaving Ronan Lynch alone in the night.

\--

Blue heard the clock strike midnight and she knew she had to get Adam home to protect him from his father, and that she had to leave soon to protect herself from falling in love with the prince.

It was harder than she’d thought it would be. They’d danced for hours and then stopped to eat, and she had asked him about studying abroad, and he told her about the ley lines and the ancient sleeping king he was searching for in Cabeswater.

He was not what she’d expected in a prince—he wasn’t fixated on wealth or status. He was funny. He was kind. He was intelligent. He was an interesting person.

Blue had wanted so badly to hate him. It would be easier that way, to never kiss him, to subvert her destiny and the witch’s curse. But she didn’t hate him at all. Blue had spent the night hyper-aware of his hand on her waist, his perfect teeth in his perfect smile. And the whispers of fate, of the witch’s spell, _kiss him, kill him, kiss him, kill him_ echoed back in forth in her head. It wasn’t safe for Gansey to be near her when she wanted so much to kiss him.

The clock hit midnight, and it was time for Blue’s fairy tale night to come to a close.

“I have to go,” she said, pulling herself out of his arms.

“Go? It’s only midnight, why do you have to go?” he asked, dismayed.

Blue sighed. “I’m so sorry. I have to get home.”

“Then... may I see you again? What’s your name? Please...”

“It’s... it’s not safe for you. To be near me. I’m sorry.”

He reached for her hand and held her in place, eyes begging her to stay, to tell him something, to see her again. Adam came running in from the gardens and he grabbed her other wrist.

“We have to leave right now,” he said, breathless, mask askew on his face.

She looked back at Gansey and pulled her arm out of his grasp, lifting the hem of her skirt as she and Adam ran for the grand entrance. As she ran, she tripped on one of the stairs, losing one of her mother’s beautiful glass slippers as Gansey chased after her. Blue almost hesitated, almost went back for it, but Adam was running out of time and if Gansey caught up... it wouldn’t be good.

“Wait!” Prince Gansey called as they ran out the door and hurtled themselves into Sir Gray’s carriage and he urged the horses off into the night.

\--

“Hurry, Sir Gray!” Adam shouted, leaning out the window.

“I’ll get you home as quickly as I can,” the mysterious man called back, snapping the reins once.

He sat back down and stared at Blue across the carriage. She pushed her mask up to sit on top of her head, looking distant and sad. He reached for her hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

“I’m sorry,” he said simply, holding her hand. “I know it’s hard.”

“I’m sorry too. Roger Malory wasn’t there. Where did you go off to?”

“I... Ronan Lynch found me. And he knew it was me. And... we danced. And he kissed me.”

“He kissed you?” she exclaimed. “How did that happen?”

Adam scrubbed a hand over his head, scratching at his head and knocking his mask off to hang around his neck loosely.

“He... Well he... he likes me. He has for a while. I never said anything; I thought maybe he had been story booking himself, like he fancied himself a hero with forbidden feelings for a boy who lives in a dirty hellhole. But now I.. He’s an important person. Regardless of whether he means it, I doubt polite society would be pleased if Sir Ronan Lynch, guard captain and the prince’s second, started courting an impoverished kitchen boy. I don't know if I... I would never want to be with someone who has to choose between me and everyone else. I'm not sure I would like someone who decided either way.”

Blue nodded and relaxed back against the wall. “But he really has feelings for you.”

Adam nearly snorted. “Hard to tell, he’s such an asshole. But I guess he does. Doesn’t matter now. Pretending we could be anything but a pair of poor kids from the slums.”

“I suppose so,” she said with a sigh. “I wish he’d been awful. I wish he’d been an ass, and self-absorbed, and—and really, genuinely mean. I wish he was someone I could hate.”

“I know what you mean.”

The carriage screeched to a halt, throwing Adam across the seats into Blue's lap.

“Get out quickly, before someone sees you!” Blue urged, kicking the door open and pushing him out.

“Goodnight!” he hissed as he moved towards his tiny little hovel of a house.

“See you tomorrow!” she whispered back, yanking the door shut as Sir Grey turned the horses and sped off down the dusty dirt road.

Adam walked around to the side of the house and opened the window to his room, sneaking in and tearing off his suit. He kicked it under his bed to be dealt with later and threw himself under the covers.

He couldn’t sleep. He could feel the usual lull of Cabeswater calling him, the tingle on his lips where Ronan had kissed him, the feeling of being full of good food, the adrenaline from sneaking around and getting away with it.

Not half an hour later he heard his father’s horse galloping up to the house. The front door slammed open and then shut and then the door to Adam’s room flew open. Adam kept his eyes shut and pretended to be asleep. He heard his father grunt and then close the door to go to sleep in his own bed.

\--

Adam woke up to see his father standing over him looking deeply unhappy, holding something behind his back with both hands.

“D-Dad? What’s going on?” he asked nervously

Robert Parrish glared down at his son. “I don’t know boy, why don’t you tell me?” He held up Adam’s ballroom mask with one hand.

Adam’s heart dropped down to the bottom of his chest.

“You went to that ball. I told you not to go. But you did anyway. Do you think I allow that kind of disobedience in this house?”

In his other hand was a thick branch.

Adam felt his entire body shaking with terror.

_“You think the man who hits me isn’t a monster too?”_

Looking up at his father brandishing that stick, Adam was sure that whatever monsters plaguing Ronan Lynch were nothing compared to Robert Parrish.

He braced himself.

\--

The entire palace was organizing a search for the mysterious maiden that Prince Gansey was determined to marry.

“If she doesn’t want to be found, maybe you should just let her go,” Ronan said, running a finger over his small raven’s little head.

“I won’t accept that. If she truly didn’t want to be with me, she would have said. But she didn’t. She said it was _dangerous_. And I’m not afraid. I won’t have any other girl but her,” the prince answered, pacing.

Ronan rolled his eyes. “What the hell are you gonna do? Have every girl in Henrietta try the shoe on? You know girls sometimes have feet the same size.”

Gansey deflated a little. He had actually considered that.

“I guess it would make more sense to look for the shoe’s match. It looks quite unique,” he answered.

The guardsman huffed and shook his head. Gansey seemed to be adding people and things to find to his list every day. First Roger Malory, then Henrietta’s ley line, then Glendower, and now the mysterious girl from the ball and her glass slipper. Admittedly, Gansey had successfully tracked down the first two, and Ronan figured he would eventually find the other two.

He wondered if the prince even knew what to wish for when he found Glendower. Gansey had said he wanted to give life back to the person who had died for him when he was saved from the bees as a child. Somewhere in Cabeswater was a ghost, Gansey said, a ghost who had been wrongfully killed at the same time Gansey wrongfully survived. And Gansey wanted to pay back his debt.

But now maybe he’d ask to find the girl.

Ronan never needed to wish for anything. Anything he wanted was his. _Greywaren_ , whispered the boy in his dreams. The smudgy boy and the orphan girl standing in the trees. If he asked, it was his. So naturally the thing he wanted most was something he could never have. He’d hoped. At least he’d gotten to kiss him once, to dance with him, to make him laugh. It was fucking stupid, Ronan knew. He still had the late night horse races with Kavinsky, who clearly wanted into his pants, and he still had access to the best booze in the kingdom whenever he wanted it.

“I just don’t understand what she meant by dangerous,” the prince continued pacing, oblivious to Ronan’s internal dilemma.

“Maybe she’s actually a witch!” Ronan said gleefully.

Gansey threw him a look. “Not funny.”

“Maybe she’s poor,” he said, thinking of Adam’s unwillingness to be courted.

“That doesn’t matter to me!”

“But it might to her.”

That gave Gansey pause, but it didn’t stop him from having the town criers announce his search for the girl with the matching shoe.

\--

Adam did not show up that morning. Blue waited outside her house as she always did, but he never came. Eventually she had to go to the kitchens on her own.

She told Nino that Adam was ill, and got to work scrubbing dishes. She heard the other kitchen workers chattering.

“The prince is searching for the girl with the matching glass shoe!” one girl said.

“Maybe I should go find myself a glass shoe, see if it’s a match,” another said with a laugh. “It couldn’t hurt to try my luck. Rich girls are already lining up with their fakes.”

“It’s only fair,” said the first.

Blue shook her head. The real glass slipper was hidden away in her attic back in its trunk along with the dress and the mask. She would never look at it again.

Ronan did not come to the kitchens, she noticed as the sun began to set and she started to make her way home. Along the way she saw girls in beautiful dresses carrying plain glass shoes walking back the way she came. None of them were the multi-faceted crystal-cut glass that reflected every color in the light. As Gansey had pointed out, her clothes were made with magic. No ordinary shoe could be its match.

Eventually, she supposed he would have to give up, marry someone else, and move on with his life. And his life was exactly what he would have, Blue thought. He would not die from her kiss, not if she could help it.

Maybe that was the truest way she could love him. By staying away from him, being a secret guardian of his life.

When she got home, she found her mother and Sir Gray and Calla and Persephone sitting together in the living room.

“I’m home,” she called, voice fading as she saw the serious looks on everyone’s faces. “...what’s wrong?”

“It’s Adam,” Maura told her daughter.

“He didn’t come to work today,” Blue said, feeling her chest squeezed tight with sudden fear. Her own voice felt very far away.

“He’s hurt very, very badly,” Persephone said in her tiny voice.

“Thanks to his dirtbag of a father,” Calla added, glaring at her deck of Tarot cards.

Blue stood up. “We need to go get him! Help him! Sir Gray, can’t you do something?”

The gray man shook his head. “I would if I could. But my manner of help would not benefit Adam in the end. There would be... unanswered questions.”

“Then... how do we save him?” Blue asked, looking from face to face around the room.

Persephone said, “That’s up to you, Blue.”

Blue knew what she had to do.

She marched up to the attic and pulled the glass slipper out of its hiding place.

“Sir Gray,” she said, “could you please take me to the palace?”

\--

When Blue arrived, she didn’t get in line with all the other girls to try her luck. Instead she went to find Ronan Lynch.

He was easy to find, because he’d gone to the meat locker to get food for his weird bird.

“Maggot,” he greeted her as she approached him.

“I need your help,” she said, ignoring his insult.

He looked over at her lazily. “And why would I help someone like you?”

“Two reasons,” Blue said. “First of all, Adam is in trouble and he needs help. Badly.”

That got Ronan’s attention. He sat bolt upright, but still trying to appear unaffected. “Fine. What’s the second reason?”

Blue pulled the shoe out of her satchel and held it up to him. “I have this.”

Ronan said, “Well, fuck.”

She shoved the shoe back in her bag and he carefully placed his little raven in a safe pocket and then grabbed her wrist, pulled her out of the kitchens and through the great halls of the palace to the throne room, where Gansey stood at the head of the long line of hopeful fakes.

“Gansey,” Ronan called, running as fast as Blue could stumble after him.

“What?” the prince answered, turning away from the girls to face his second. “What’s wrong? Who’s this?”

Blue reached into her bag and handed the glass slipper to him silently. She saw his face change from calm to confused to shocked to ecstatic as he turned to compare it to the one he had.

“It’s you!” he exclaimed, putting the shoe down gently and reaching for Blue’s hands. “I was starting to think I’d never find you.”

“You should go down to the kitchens more often,” Ronan butted in. “She’s there every day.”

He gently put a hand against her cheek as if testing to see if she was real. He started to lean in but when he did, she jerked out of his grasp.

“You can’t kiss me,” she said. “Not that I don’t want to, believe me, but you can’t.”

“Why ever not?”

“When I was born, a witch cursed me to kill my true love with a kiss. That’s why. I was trying to protect you,” Blue told him earnestly. “I thought I could stay away, keep you safe. I’d always hoped that you’d be a boorish jerk, but you’re... you’re _you_.”

Gansey’s cheeks flushed with the compliment. “But... why did you come back? Not that I’m not pleased, I am... words cannot describe how happy I am to see you. Will you please tell me your name?” the prince asked.

“My name is Blue Sargent,” she said. “And I came back because my best friend desperately needs your help.”

“Adam,” Ronan said, almost involuntary.

“Yes. He was... my ‘brother’ from last night. His father isn’t... His father beats him regularly. I’ve told him for ages to leave, to come live with me, but he refuses to put more of a burden on my household. His father didn’t want him to come last night, but I—I insisted he sneak out and go with me. We had to leave at midnight to be back before his father, but somehow he must have... he’s hurt, my family is full of psychics, they said he’s hurt so badly he can’t move, please, please, I beg of you—“

“We’ll leave immediately. Not one moment more,” Gansey said, already marching towards the stable. “Ronan, have your unit ready to go in five minutes. Blue, you’ll ride with me; show me where your friend is.”

The prince was at his most princely. He called back at the chamberlain, “Please send these ladies away. I’ve found who I was looking for.”

\--

Adam hurt everywhere. At least one of his legs was broken, and everywhere he was scraped up from the harsh wood of the branch bashing against his skin. His eyes were swollen and he could barely see, and he was bleeding from one of his ears. Sound wasn’t coming into his head right. His tongue felt too big for his mouth and his ribs ached from being kicked.

“That’s what you get for disobeying me, Adam,” his father had said, looming over his son like a great beast. “Won’t be so easy for you to get around now. No more sneaking for you, boy.”

Adam lay curled up as small as he could get, tears leaking silently from his aching eyes. His father had gone to the kitchen to get drunk; he hoped his mother wasn’t home.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been like this. He knew he missed work, he knew Blue and her psychic family would figure it out. He tried to focus on that, on the knowledge that someone was missing him and would come looking soon.

_They’re coming._

_Who’s coming?_

_The Greywaren and the prince and the cursed girl._

_When?_

_Soon._

_Who are you?_

_I’m the sacrifice. I’m Cabeswater’s voice, for now. I’ve been calling you for years. I can’t believe it took you this long to hear me. It doesn’t seem right that you’d have to be hurt this badly before you could hear me._

_I’m sorry._

_That’s okay. It isn’t your fault._

_Am I going to die?_

_Nah. You’ll be fine once you see a healer._

_I can’t afford to see a healer._

_The Greywaren can. The prince can. You’ll be fine. And then you’ll come find me._

_Why?_

_So the sleeping king can awaken and the curse can be lifted._

_I don’t understand._

_It’s a lot of destiny mumbo-jumbo. You aren’t going to die. You’re the Magician._

_I can’t do magic. I can’t afford to go to the school that can teach me how._

_You will. Eventually. Destiny, remember? Rest easy. Then come find me in Cabeswater._

Adam slowly became aware of noise from the main room of the house. The door slammed open and he heard someone say, “Robert Parrish, you’re under arrest by royal order of Prince Richard Gansey III. The charges are assault and battery.”

He heard his father cursing drunkenly as royal guards led him out of the house. Then he heard footsteps and Blue’s voice saying “his bedroom is over here” and then the door opening.

“Fucking hell,” a boy’s voice said, strangled, distraught. Ronan.

“God, oh god Adam I am so sorry, this is all my fault.” Blue’s hand was cool against Adam’s forehead.

“No,” he croaked.

“Don’t speak,” another voice said. Vaguely familiar. Important. Adam couldn’t see who it was. “We have to take him back to the palace, to the royal healers. He’s hurt very badly.”

He felt someone lifting him, supporting his back and his knees. He groaned with the pain of being moved.

“Sorry,” the lifter murmured. Whoever it was smelled good and felt warm.

“Ronan, can you move him to the carriage?” the other male voice said.

Adam drifted off to sleep, safe in someone’s arms.

_I’ll come find you soon._

\--

Ronan sat by Adam’s bedside with Blue and Gansey. The healer had done her magic, stopping the bleeding and soothing scrapes and bruises, knitted flesh and repaired broken bones. She had warned them that he would likely never hear again from his injured ear, but beyond that he would make a full recovery.

All that was left was for him to wake up.

When he did, it was all at once; Adam sat up and looked around confusedly, and then at his arms more confusedly.

“How... how did I get here?” he asked slowly, like he was shocked he could still speak.

“We brought you here,” the prince said.

Adam looked like he was about to pass out again. “P-Prince Gansey? How... oh no. Blue, you didn’t.”

“I had to,” she said. “He would have killed you, Adam, this would have been it.”

“She told me everything,” Gansey said. “But I’m glad you’re safe now. Your father is in prison, and he will never touch you again.”

Adam let out a deep sigh and leaned back against the pillows that were nicer than anything he owned himself. “How strange.”

“Strange?” Blue asked.

“Strange to be rid of the monster I’ve lived with for all twenty years of my life.”

Blue leaned over to press a kiss to Adam’s forehead. “I’m so happy you’re alive. What would I do without you?”

“I imagine you’d have to find someone else to rope into doing things.” Adam smiled at her and looked around. “Where am I?”

“The healing wing at the castle,” Gansey said.

“I can’t afford this,” he whispered, an automatic response.

“It’s a gift,” the prince answered. “You were very badly hurt. Please accept it. You’re Blue’s best friend, and that makes you important to me.”

“...then you...?”

Blue frowned and crossed her arms. “I don’t know. I still can’t kiss him. And a royal wedding isn’t legally binding without a kiss.”

“I don’t care about getting married. I just—“

“I know,” she said. “I know. But like it or not, you have a duty to your kingdom and your family and I won’t let you abandon those things for me and my curse.

Adam cleared his throat. “Actually. I had a... a talk? Maybe? With Cabeswater. Or a ghost that lives in it anyway. He told me to come find him, that he could lead us to some kind of wish-granting king.”

“Glendower,” Gansey said, perking up.

“I just thought... you could use the wish to break Blue’s curse.”

Prince Gansey squared his jaw. “Maybe this is fate. You can help us find him?”

Adam looked down at his hands. “I... I think so. I’ve never been able to afford an education on my magic, but I heard the voice when I was unconscious. The king wants to be found.”

“I’ve heard it too.” Ronan spoke for the first time in minutes, his eyes containing feelings that Adam could not fathom. “I talk to the ghost in my dreams. His name is Noah. He’s been waiting for you, Parrish.”

The kitchen boy threw the blankets off of himself and shakily stood up on his newly-healed legs.

“Then we should go.”

\--

They urged their horses through the city streets, over stone-paved lanes until they dropped off to dirt roads. They followed the one road to the enchanted forest on Henrietta’s eastern border. When they reached the forest pathway, the four horses all refused to go any further.

“They’re smarter than we are,” Ronan remarked. “Cabeswater never did like visitors.”

“That’s where Glendower is,” Gansey replied, dismounting his horse. “That’s where we have to go.”

The four of them hitched their horses to a fence post and walked bravely into the unwelcoming woods. Even Gansey, not gifted with magic, could feel the hum of Cabeswater’s great power shivering through the trees.

“This way,” Adam said, surprising himself. Somehow he knew where to go. Somehow he’d been here before, even though he hadn’t. This was where he was always meant to go. He led the group, weaving in and out of trees, until they reached a clearing. In the clearing was an old horse-drawn wagon turned on its side, halfway consumed by ivy and moss climbing up its wooden planks.

There was also a skeleton, perfectly preserved save for the right cheek of the skull, completely smashed in.

“Noah?” Adam called out, voice hoarse. “We’re here.”

“I’m here too,” Ronan added, stepping forward to stand by the other boy.

“I can see that. About time, honestly!”

The group was startled by a voice behind them and they turned to see another boy their age that seemed to be not quite really there. He was sort of flickering in and out, real and not real. His face could only be described as smudgy, and he looked a little impatient.

“I told you that you wouldn’t die. And here you are. Lucky thing too,” the ghost boy said, “dying is not something I’d recommend. Or at least, dying slowly.”

Adam released a sigh he hadn’t realized he was holding. “You wanted me to find you, so we could find Glendower. What do we do now?”

Noah raised one evanescent hand to point at Ronan. “The Greywaren and the Magician can find him. Ronan has been here before. He knows where to go. And Adam is tied to this place like no other. He’ll know what to do when you get there.”

Ronan said, “I don’t know where to go.”

“Sure you do. Don’t you remember where you hide when the nightmares come for you?”

“Those are dreams.”

“Dreams that you can make real. Real enough to wake up bleeding when the monsters catch up to you. The cave is real. You know the way. It’s the only way to save your prince from dying at the hands of his true love. Or. The mouth of his true love, I guess?” Noah shrugged.

Blue frowned. “That doesn’t seem right. I could just never kiss him and he’d be fine.”

The ghost shook his head. “Destiny doesn’t work like that. Neither do curses. You’re like an explosion waiting to go off, Blue Sargent. You’re the most powerful person in the entirety of the kingdom of Henrietta.”

“How do you figure that?”

Noah smiled. “Well, now you hold the heart of the kingdom.”

The ghost boy disappeared.

\--

They followed Ronan for hours, Gansey and Blue murmuring to each other walking hand in hand, Ronan and Adam in the lead. Ronan didn’t know how he knew, but he’d been there before in his dreams. Cabeswater was different in his dream; asleep, the path to the cave would glow bright blue and he would run and run, chased by monstrous things that wanted to hurt and kill him.

_“He’ll never love you back_ ,” they would always whisper to him. “ _You’re a cruel-hearted boy and he won’t accept your love._ ”

Ronan glanced occasionally at Adam, who was looking around the great forest in wonder. The light through the trees fell dappled on his elegant cheekbones and across his lightly freckled nose, soft lips parted as he sighed, enraptured by the magic of Cabeswater. He looked beautiful, like some kind of creature of the wood, like he belonged to Cabeswater the same way Ronan did. Adam looked ethereal, otherworldly, and Ronan had to look away because it hurt his heart to watch any longer.

_This is the place._

Ronan stopped before a blocked entrance to a cave that led down into the earth.

“This is the place,” the guardsman said. “Parrish, you’re up.”

Adam stepped up the mouth of the cave. It was blocked not with stone or natural formations, but by a great oak door with a raven crest carved into it.

“That’s Glendower’s seal,” Gansey whispered, awed. “You really found it, Ronan. Could you always do this? Why didn’t you take me here sooner?”

“I... I didn’t know I could,” Ronan answered honestly. “I’m as surprised as you are.”

Blue moved over to Adam and leaned into his shoulder with hers.

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t know about that,” he answered, “but I think I know how to open this door...” He reached out a hand and pressed his palm flat against the center of the crest. The natural cracks in the wood began to glow and then slowly, the door swung open inward with a great heaving groan, revealing an ancient stairway.

Adam went first, followed by Ronan and the other two, and as they walked, the light from the sun became farther and farther away. For a moment, the group was stuck in completely darkness.

“What do we do now?” Gansey asked, voice bouncing off the walls.

Adam must have done something, Ronan figured, because the walls began to glow. Upon closer inspection, the walls were covered in strange tiny mushrooms that gave off a pale greenish-bluish light, revealing the pathway further into the cave.

Finally, they came to another door, and Adam opened that one too, and they walked into a great room lit by torches that must have been enchanted to burn forever.

“Shit,” Ronan breathed. The room was supported by elegantly carved stone pillars, and in the center of the room was an intricately crafted tomb with Glendower’s seal on it. There was an ancient language written on the outside.

“I can’t read that,” Adam said as they examined it closely.

Gansey leaned in. “Neither can I. I recognize the language, but not the words...”

“I’ve seen it before,” Ronan said. “Dreamspeak.”

“I’ve seen it too,” Blue said. She leaned over. “My mother taught me the language. ‘The Tomb of Glendower can be opened only by the Magician, the Greywaren, and the son of kings.’”

“You’re brilliant,” the prince said admiringly, and Blue blushed and turned away. “Then that will be us three, it seems.”

The top of the sealed tomb had three circles on it, and Gansey put his hand flat on the center one. Adam and Ronan followed suit with the other two, and something rolled and clicked into place like an ancient tumbler that hadn’t been triggered in centuries. A cloud of dust burst up from the edges of the coffin as it came unsealed, and from the side, Blue pushed against the lid and it slipped open easily.

Ronan put his hand on Gansey’s shoulder to steady him. Ten years of searching, from childhood to adulthood, all culminating in this moment. The air seemed to go out of the room.

Inside the great chest was an old man with a crown that seemed to glow, infused with magic. His arms were crossed elegantly over his chest and his eyes were closed.  
“How do we wake him?” Adam asked nervously.

Blue took another look at the Dreamspeak on the lid, and then smiled wryly. “Someone has to need his help.”

She kneeled at the side of the tomb and put her hand on his shoulder. Ronan thought it was wrong for her to touch him, undisturbed for so long, and yet he knew this was the only way.

“King Glendower,” she murmured, head bowed. “Please. I need your help. I am cursed to kill the man I love with a kiss. Without your gift, our love can never be. I beg of you.”

Gansey came to kneel beside her and put his hand over hers. “I love a woman that has to stay away from me to protect me. And I am grateful for her protection. But I would much prefer her proximity. Please, grant us your favor.”

For a moment, nothing happened, and then the enchanted torches burst brightly, and Ronan flinched. The long-sleeping king opened deep green eyes and sat up slowly. Even sitting up in a tomb older than Henrietta itself, he looked as though he might be at a grand throne in the center of a great castle. There was an air of nobility surrounding him that made it hard for even Ronan to look at him. It was a mix of might and magic and Ronan felt it resonating against his ribs, shaking in his lungs and his heart.

_For waking me from my slumber, your wish shall be granted. Go in peace, young ones._

The voice boomed in Ronan’s head, not spoken aloud, but imposing. Kingly. Deep and rumbling and ancient.

The fire of the torches turned every color Ronan knew and then the room went dark, the eerie presence gone from it as quickly as it came.

When the light from the mushrooms began to glow softly, Glendower was gone.

Ronan looked at Adam, who stared wide-eyed at the space where the ancient king had existed moments earlier, and then at Blue and Gansey, who still kneeled by the side of the casket, hands clasped together. Slowly, they raised their heads and looked at each other. Ronan felt like he should be somewhere else, like they were sharing something important.

Slowly, hands shaking, Blue reached her hand to cup Gansey’s face, thumb stroking against his cheek gently.

In slow motion, they moved together for a kiss. Ronan did look away then; it was too intimate and loving a moment for his taste, especially when he would never have one.  
He stared at the wall until he heard the two of them laughing delightedly and he looked again. Their smile lit up the entire room, more than the torches ever could. Blue threw herself at Gansey and knocked him to the ground and they laughed and laughed.

Adam looked at Ronan and smiled hesitantly, and Ronan accepted that as a gift.

They were all so alive.

\--

The wedding planning began immediately—Adam was drawn into it all, being fitted for finery far beyond his station, being given responsibilities like helping Blue choose flower arrangements and color schemes, eating meals with Gansey and Ronan and Blue and the king and queen, sleeping in private quarters at the castle. Blue insisted on living at her house until the wedding; Gansey kept offering to move Blue’s entire family to the palace, but Maura and the others kindly refused.

“Our house may be tiny and shabby, but it’s ours,” Calla had said. The psychic house did, however, accept gifts in the form of food for every mouth in the cottage.

Adam’s mother refused to speak to him. That hurt, but he had expected it. He had asked Gansey to send her money so she could live in the house. He wouldn’t accept that kind of payment for himself, but his mother didn’t have much besides Robert Parrish, and he was never getting out of prison.

“I’m only staying in the palace until after the wedding,” Adam said to Blue. “Then I’ll have to find my own place to live, I suppose.” He glanced out the window of the room he was staying in; from there he could see Aglionby in the center of the city, shining like a beacon that was forever too far off to reach.

He kept going down to the kitchens and Nino kept shooing him away, telling him he had a better job now and ought to go do it.

Adam felt lost in the big palace. He didn’t belong anywhere. He still felt like a poor kitchen boy masquerading as someone important. But still guests of the royal family would see him and whisper, “ _That’s the magic boy who saved the prince_.” And that meant something to him, truly. Adam felt needed, which is something he never had before.

The day of the wedding was truly one for the records, in Adam’s opinion. The sun shone high in the cloudless sky, and royalty and nobles from Henrietta and all its allied kingdoms came pouring in. Civilians lined the streets hoping to catch a glimpse of their beloved prince’s bride as a carriage pulled them through the streets.

The wedding guests took their seats; Adam sat with Blue’s mother and other family members, feeling strangely out of place against the backdrop of the grand throne room filled with rich and powerful people. At the head of it was Prince Richard Gansey III in royal finery, and a priest.

But when the wedding march started to play, everyone turned to the grand entrance and Blue began to descend the stairs in her magic-made dress and reunited glass heels, accompanied by a veil that cascaded like a shining wave down her back.

Adam tore his eyes away from his best friend to look at Gansey at the front of the hall. He could see the prince had tears in his eyes at the sight of his true love. Across the aisle he saw Ronan, who was smiling genuinely at his own best friend, and then he turned and caught Adam’s eye and suddenly in that moment Adam knew that Ronan’s love wasn’t so impossible after all and maybe he had been wrong about the guardsman’s intentions.

He turned to watch Blue and Gansey take their vows. Surrounding by all the finery in the world, they saw only each other. Their love was all-encompassing and destined and true, and Adam was halfway between thrilled for his friends and jealous of their happiness, their assuredness in the future.

But he smiled for them, smiled as they said “I do” and exchanged rings and kissed and they were _alive_ and they were so _happy._

Adam could only hope to know himself half as well someday.

\--

At the reception, Ronan watched Gansey and Blue dancing together, and felt a longing that he’d known for months pulling at his heart. Adam had made it clear that he didn’t believe the sincerity of Ronan’s feelings, and that felt fucking awful, but it was the other boy’s right.

_I can’t_ , he’d said.

Ronan sighed and went to pick at the exquisitely catered buffet table and caught sight of Adam leaning against the wall next to the table end, nursing a flute of champagne. Ronan made his way over to the dusty-haired kitchen boy.

“Hey,” he said quietly.

“Hey,” Adam answered, putting his drink down.

“You know, Gansey told me he wants to reward you. For what you did for him. For ‘services rendered to the royal family of Henrietta’. A scholarship to Aglionby. It’s not a gift or you being kept or a pet or whatever. It’s a _reward_. So you can do what you’ve always wanted.”

Ronan thought it was good that Adam already put his drink down, because he absolutely would have dropped it.

“I think the scholarship only includes the school and all related supplies. You can stay on the campus but living expenses are up to you. And when you’re done, you have to serve the court as a magical advisor. Sound fair?”

Faster than Ronan could keep up with, Adam threw his arms around the guardsman and hugged him tight. Ronan was so surprised he didn’t even have time to reciprocate.  
“Wh-why are you hugging me, Parrish? It wasn’t even my idea.”

Adam seemed to collect himself and then pulled away, embarrassed. Ronan already missed the warmth of him.

“I was wrong,” Adam said. He was still standing so close. Ronan wanted to hug him again, to hold him, just once in a fit of joy, so he could dream up the memory when Adam was gone.

“Wrong?”

“I don’t want to _pretend_ it could be different,” the kitchen boy said. “I just want it to _be_ different. And I think, now, it could be. If you still wanted it to be. If you still wanted it to be with me.”

Ronan could barely believe what he was hearing.

“Am I dreaming?” he asked breathlessly.

“I don’t think so,” the other boy replied.

Ronan had dreamed something like this time and time again. Adam changing his mind. Adam choosing to stay after the clock struck midnight. Adam kissing him back. But he knew he was awake when Adam didn’t want him back.

“Adam,” Ronan murmured, all his sharp edges softened, voice thick with emotion. “’Course I still want it to be with you. There’s no... there’s no one else for me, after all this.”

Adam rolled his eyes, but he smiled too. “Surely I’m not your first, Captain Ronan Lynch.”

“No. But I feel like maybe you could be the last. You know. Just you. For however long you want.”

The soon-to-be-trained magician grinned at him, and Ronan was sure he was the sun itself for a moment.

“Well I don’t know about that,” he said. “But we could start with a dance, maybe.”

Ronan grinned back and led Adam to the floor, spinning around, bodies close against each other, music playing joyfully nearby. He caught sight of Blue and Gansey and caught his friend’s eye; Gansey gave him a broad, approving smile before turning back to his bride. Ronan looked at the boy smiling in his arms and thought, _it’s as good a start as any._

\--

Adam started attending Aglionby, studying with Roger Malory to understand his magic. He kept his job in the kitchens, and his spare time was spent with Blue and Prince Gansey and Ronan.

Ronan’s nightmares had calmed considerably since they began courting, so his visits to the kitchens became more apparent in their nature; he wanted to see Adam.

Adam found that he didn’t mind it so much when they were on more equal footing; Ronan could certainly be unkind and difficult and dangerous, but he was also fun and loyal and clever, and anyone with eyes could see how he adored Adam. It was almost overwhelming, the attentions of Ronan Lynch, but Adam handled it like he did everything; with elegance and just a little bit of recklessness.

Ronan would pull him into a kitchen side closet to kiss him senseless; Adam would sneak up on Ronan in the stable, Ronan would show up unannounced at Adam’s school housing with a bottle of wine and a dream-flower that would never wither.

One morning he woke up with Ronan still sleeping beside him and Adam realized something important; his dream had come true. He had become someone worth knowing, and more than that, his father would never hurt him again. Additionally, he had Blue’s constant companionship and sisterly love, Prince Gansey’s friendship and gratitude, the approval of the professors at Aglionby, and Ronan’s heartbreakingly gentle touches whenever he wanted them.

That night, at the top of the highest castle tower, Ronan and Adam watched shooting stars streak across the night sky. Adam slipped his hand into Ronan’s.

“I love you,” he said simply. He felt Ronan’s hand tighten around his.

“What did you say?”

“I love you, Ronan.”

Ronan choked out a laugh and pulled Adam in for a kiss.

“In that case guess I don’t have to keep making wishes on all these fucking stars, then.”

Adam laughed. “I guess not.”

“I love you too.”

“I know.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

Ronan did.

And, as they often say at the end of these kinds of stories, they all lived happily ever after.


End file.
